


The Beginning of An End

by TiredAndAwkwardBean



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: (damnit Sans), Always tired, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Attempt at Humor, Beware, Blood and Injury, Curses, Drunken Shenanigans, Fluff, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, How Do I Tag, Impulsive reader (kind of), Kind of has a plot, Multi, Multiverse, Mutt is really just a anxious bby, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Reader has a few characteristics, Reader has sort of a past ?, Self-Insert, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Tags Are Hard, Tags Contain Spoilers, Tall Reader, Witches, mentions of cryptids, music and songs, this has been inspired by a lot out there, use of nicknames, yet another harem fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-30
Updated: 2020-02-16
Packaged: 2020-09-30 11:27:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20446394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TiredAndAwkwardBean/pseuds/TiredAndAwkwardBean
Summary: You're cursed.You don't exactly remember everything about your curse because its been so long, but an encounter with a skeleton that ends in you being somehow transported to the middle of the woods starts changing that little by little.Perhaps living so long wasn't a bad thing.





	1. Panic!! In The Middle of The Street!!

**Author's Note:**

> Hi humans and/or others. =D

Admittedly, stumbling down the sidewalk on the wrong side of town while singing like a loud drunkard was not the best place to be in the middle of the night. 

But drunk you resulted in a not very smart you. 

The sidewalk swayed underneath your feet, twisting and twirling in a way that had already resulted in you smooching the sidewalk far too many times to willingly admit to. In your opinion, it needed to learn how to be a proper sidewalk and stay still. 

A mumbled song drifted past your lips as you continued to try and not give any more love to the sidewalk, not entirely concerned with whom or what heard you in the darkness of the night. You just needed to get home. 

“Mama, we all go to hell~,” 

Your gaze drifted upwards, trying to spot the stars despite the light pollution and smog blocking your view. It was almost strange to think about the time when the sky was solely lit up by the stars and the moon. 

The lyrics continued to tumble from your lips, a small spark of cruel irony sparking through your muddled mind as you continued to sing “Oh well now, Mama, we're all gonna die,” 

You didn’t know if you even had the tune right, all you knew is that you wanted to sing and see the damned stars. Which was apparently too much to ask for nowadays. 

Your limbs swiftly changed course, your head craned back to continue searching for stars despite knowing you wouldn’t be able to catch any properly until you got out and farther away from the city. 

The urge to go home was slowly vanishing, the quest to see some damned stars properly taking up all thoughts in your muddled mind. 

“And when you go don't return to me my love,” You droned on, ignoring the little voice telling you that it wasn’t sure that was how the song even went. You could sing the damned song however you wanted thank-you-very-much!

A stumble from your clumsy feet had you lurching forward unexpectedly, your brain a little too far behind your body to be able to catch yourself properly. 

Which predictably ended up in another smooch with the sidewalk you had failed to reject all night and wondering if you should just give up and worry about everything else later. 

The urge to just give up and curl up on the sidewalk was strong, and you let out a sigh before burying your face in the crook of your elbows, wanting nothing more than to sleep and not worry about anything. 

At the bitter reminder that you couldn’t sleep, you felt your mood take a graceful nosedive, your carefree spirit vanishing, and the fog from your drunkness clearing in a distressing way that allowed your mind to actually think thoughts you didn’t want to think. 

You were just so tired. 

The tune had fled from you when you had collided with the sidewalk, and the urge to continue singing had died in a distressing manner as your mind tried to stay blank while minutes ticked by. 

Footsteps snaped you out of your blank thoughts, approaching somewhat slowly with whispers accompanying them as they got closer to where you were still lying on the cold cement. 

You held back a groan at the realization that you might actually have to confront people in your shitty mood. The said mood somehow growing more distressing at the thought.

A few jabs to your side go ignored as you continued to lie there, unwilling to acknowledge the fact that people are actually trying to interact with you. You really didn’t feel up to it at the moment so no thanks world. 

Maybe they would just leave you alone if they thought you were dead or something of the like. 

A hand slipping into your pockets was of no big deal, though it did have you wishing all curses and bad things on the ones ignoring your personal space and patting you down like airport security, only these people were a lot more handsy. 

Not cool. 

It wasn’t as if they would find anything of value. You had spent all your cash and left everything else at home, which was sort of the only reason you had quit drinking so early into the morning. 

Knowing that the thieves would find nothing but pieces of lint and a few gum wrappers left you feeling rather satisfied, or at least you were until you were carefully rolled onto your back and the inside of your jacket and front pockets were dug through. 

You continued to play dead, already having mastered the art of it from going through so many years of having faked being asleep because of something or other that happened. 

A tug to one of your shoes had you inwardly bristling in frustration, the sudden urge to rip a few heads off igniting and urging you to go through with it. 

Hands tugging away your jacket was the breaking point. Sure you could probably go without shoes until you got home, the ones you were currently wearing weren’t even your favorite pair, but a good jacket getting nabbed was not something you were going to put up with. 

Your brain slowly started to supply a plan, but you quickly decided to discard it when one of your shoes was successfully pulled off. 

You shot up, your head smashing into someone else's painfully and leaving a ringing in your skull as you yanked your foot out of a pair of hands and crashed it back into the face closest to your foot. 

Holding back a wince, you instead morphed your face into a deadly scowl, ignoring the third person who skittered away from your shoulder and put distance between you two before you could do anything to them. 

Looked like they weren’t all dumb. 

Your good mood had taken a dive, long gone and the haze of drunkness barely a buzz that annoyed you more than anything at the moment. 

You took a turn to glare at each person, a snarl curling your lip when your eyes settled upon your stolen shoe in the grasp of the one you had kicked in the face. 

“Give. Me. My. Shoe,” you ground out, ignoring the fact that you are sitting on the ground and probably still looking like a drunken mess while trying to intimidate the three. 

Your shoe was hastily dropped before the three surprisingly dashed away without looking back, fleeing as though you had been the one to try and snatch their clothes. 

Glaring into the dark, you shout after the three and tug your shoe on

“Yeah, that's what I thought!” You ignored the itching of your throat, the buzz of your head, the roiling nausea probing your stomach, and instead peer around the dim street to figure out where you currently were. 

Annoyance of the distasteful disturbance had you wondering if it was the best idea to get out of town this late at night, not only would you have to come back, but you also had work in the morning. 

Joy. 

With a heavy heart and frustrated mind, you started your trek back home, more frustration piling onto you when you realized that drunk you hadn’t bothered to make sure you knew where you were actually going. 

You just knew that you are somewhat farther from the city center than usual, the drab buildings and uncared for surroundings informing you that this part of the city is the one you don’t want to be around, especially at the late hour you just happened to be there at. 

But you still had a few hours till the sun rose, so you weren’t too concerned about not making it to work on time, surely you could find your way back home before the day began. 

So you began to wander aimlessly, throwing a dirty look to the spot where you had almost been stripped before continuing on your way and hoping you weren’t getting entirely lost. 

30 minutes of walking later and you were no closer to any place you recognized, the surrounding buildings only seeming to grow bleaker the farther you walked. 

Which was perfectly fine, you could find your way out of this place before the sun rose. 

………….or at least you thought you could?

The certainty of getting out of this maze-like place was growing more unconvincing the longer you walked, and you would think that drunk you had taken you to an entirely different city if it weren’t for the few closed shops you passed with the city name either adorning it on the front or familiar gang signs and graffiti littered across the surrounding walls. 

While quietly cursing the humans who decided to build such ridiculous streets that you were sure were curving around and leading you in a circle, you rounded another corner and froze at the sight of a cluster of humans. 

They all seemed to be surrounding someone tall, tall enough that you were sure if you got closer they would be taller than you, though not by much. 

Was this a gang fight? Were the bastards robbing someone? 

You didn’t know, you didn’t care. 

You just wanted to get home. 

Maybe if you just ignored the entire scene and shuffled past nobody would bother you. 

You began to execute your plan, not sparing a second glance to the now silent group and confidently striding by, your eyes glued to the feet that began to eat up the ground underneath you. 

But you came to a slow halt when another pair of shoes entered your downcast vision, slowly following the shoes up to the owner in your way. 

The brilliance of your plan fell apart and now mocked you with how pathetic it felt. 

Of course people just wouldn’t leave you alone.

You should have taken another street or something else, though there was no time to duel on your mistakes, you had to deal with the consequences of your kind of dumb actions right now. 

Your eyes trailed upwards, lingering on the glint of the knife held your way before roaming all the way up and to the humans' face. 

They were short, almost an entire head shorter than you, yet you supposed that they thought their confidence stance and intimidating stare would be enough to have you cowering. A sneer on his haggard features reminding you of you when you hadn’t rested properly for a few days. 

The thought almost had you snickering, how on earth did this tiny human think they could be of any bother to you?

You tilted your head in silent question, eyes darting from him to behind him to indicate you just wanted to leave. 

“You hate those demons too, right?” He snarled, and you heaved a sigh at not getting the easy way out before quirking a brow at him. 

He jerked a thumb to the side, indicating to the large figure that was still surrounded by a few humans. 

You allowed yourself a glance to the side, mild surprise knocking you in the head at the sight of a monster. 

Monsters had been up on the surface a few years now, around 8? 6? Eh, you couldn’t remember, time just flew by when you were not paying attention to anything in general. But it had been long enough that you had thought that the monster racism had died down a bit. 

The humans standing before you were proof that it hadn't. 

Joy. 

The monster was a skeleton, their tall, almost lanky form sinking into a comfortable looking jacket. Their sharp teeth looking menacing in the dim light of the street, and two deep gashes cutting through their left eyesocket. Their skull didn't _look _anatomically correct, not that magic really paid attention to what humans thought was and wasn't possible. 

All in all, they looked like they could end your life with a snap of their bony fingers.

…...though not in like, a super bad way??

Returning your gaze to the short human, you gave a shrug, uncaring of how he interpreted it, you just wanted to leave. 

The moment his snarl deepened and his eyes flashed with a deep mania you knew you had messed up. 

He lunged forward, knife wielded quite pathetically, and you didn’t bother to dodge, already having done this song and dance far too many times to bother with any longer. 

He aimed for your side, and you lifted your arms slightly away from yourself and took a tiny step back , at least making it look like you were making an effort to not get turned into a human kebab, you let out a pain filled hiss when the knife sliced up your side before getting lodged deeply right below your rib. 

Honest to GOD this guy was INSANE. Who on earth just went ahead and stabbed someone because of different views? (well, it had been that way a long time ago and kind of was a recurring thing with humans, but whatever, you thought that you all had moved past that point in history!) 

You took a stumbling step back, clutching at your side and gasping at the cold feeling of your blood rushing over your skin and down your side. 

That would be a real pain to get out of your clothes 

The knife was sunk deep into your side, burning in an unnatural way as your body tried to spit it out and meld the skin back together. You held back the healing process, not exactly wanting your wounds to heal right before your assaulter. That had happened far too many times already and the result was always the same. 

Instead, you did what you had become accustomed to doing every time you found yourself in a rather sticky situation. 

You played dead. 

Your eyes trailed down the wound, widening as a shaking hand softly pressed against the spreading stain on your shirt. Darn it, it was a good shirt too. 

Holding back your complaints, you grasped the handle of the knife and let your trembling hand yank it out of your side, which was exactly not what you were supposed to do, but the blood leaking faster from the wound was a very useful thing to have when you were trying to pretend to die. 

Legs trembling, you let them crumble beneath you, the knife clattering to the ground, your eyes beginning to water as your knees crashed painfully into the street. Tears coming to your eyes involuntarily at the added pain, because OUCH DID THAT EVER HURT!

Letting out a wheeze for dramatic effect, you curled forward and clutched at your bleeding side, giving your attacker a watery gaze before promptly collapsing onto your face and weakening your breaths steadily. 

Scuffles rang through the street, broken by the sudden crash of something banging against a car and falling to the ground with an echoing thud. You had no idea what it was. 

The loud ‘HOLY SHIT’ and stampeding of feet that reached your ears a few seconds later let you know that the group had fled, probably too cowardly to stick around and figure out what to do with your body. 

Still gasping quite dramatically, you twisted your body slightly so you could peek around, freezing at the skeleton kneeling before you and frantically hovering their hands above you like they had no idea what to do. 

You ceased all moving and went back to playing dead, an uncomfortable feeling spreading through you at the sticky blood staining your clothes. Your jacket might get ruined at this rate. 

Staring down at your side inconspicuously revealed that yes, it did get on your jacket, and your pants, and was quickly forming a small puddle around the bleeding area. The thought of losing the jacket that you had already saved once made you whine in unaccepting denial. The process of getting all the blood of it feeling far too tedious and bothersome to even think about. 

“shh shh its alright! don’t - um- don’t worry! i’m gonna get you some-some help!” He sounded mildly panicked at the scene before him, which, he should. But how dare he sush you- a currently DYING (<strike>sort of</strike>) person?! 

You just didn’t sush dying people! It wasn’t…..actually you couldn’t come up with a proper excuse NOT to sush a dying person, so maybe your bad mood was just trying to find reasons to dislike the cause of (kind of?) your occurring death. 

Letting out a groan, you started to push yourself up, wondering if you should just knock this dude out and hope he thought it was all a dream. With your luck, it would end up rather badly, but you were ready to just say ‘to heck with it’ and do it. 

A hand between your shoulders shoved you back down, and you landed with a soft ‘oof’ and wide eyes as you tried to tilt your head around to ask what in hell he thought he was doing. 

“sorry!! sorry, its just-you shouldn’t move.” The unmistakable tone of him panicking even more than previously had you almost rolling your eyes, but you supposed he made a good point so you complied to his wishes and stayed still. Keeping up your act and slowly letting your breath begin to shudder as the grip on you was released and you heard something like fumbling before the unmistakable ring of a phone had you begin to panic. 

Please don’t be calling the police! Or an ambulance! Or anything remotely to do with the government! The need to tackle him to the ground before he did something that could potentially get you into trouble so deep you didn’t think you could escape had you moving to get up again, moving a little too fast for someone that was considered to be ‘dying’ 

But the words that came from him a second later had you freezing in place. 

“ bro? yeah, do you think-” 

You stared up at him with wide eyes, an elbow propping you up while the other hand was planted firmly on the ground, ready to shove yourself at him and at the same time trying to shrink under his startled expression. 

He went quiet, staring at you before slowly shifting, pinching the phone between his shoulder and …..ear??? Skeletons didn’t….have ears….right? So...his skull? 

You were snapped out of your important and contemplative thoughts when he carefully shifted you upwards and into a sitting position, you winced at the pain aching from your body yelling at you to let it REPAIR ITSELF ALREADY! 

The very thought of being done with the pain was tempting, but you couldn’t give yourself away yet!

“no, i mean- yeah i know. but- no, i do know how late it is but- sans would you just listen!?” He sounded almost hysterical by the time he had you up, draping your arm over his shoulder and supporting your weight quite well. 

Now literally being side by side, you could see he was slightly taller than you, which had you huff slightly in dissatisfaction. You didn’t often meet many people taller than yourself. 

“listen! some- um,” he gave you a side glance and winced, which was weird because from your experience bones did not move that way, at all…….you really wanted to poke his face. 

“yeahhhh…. well, just be ready for lots of blood,” With those (probably misleading) words he shoved the phone into his pocket and once again grasped your arm, the other hand gripping around your waist and holding you in a slightly shaking iron grip. 

“so-um” the shaking of his hands increased, his voice wavering in a strange way that had suspicion building inside you “do you -um- come around here often?”

You slowly turned your head to give him a blank stare, wondering if he actually had just asked you that or if you had lost enough blood to begin hallucinating. Maybe he was drunk. Maybe you were still drunk. 

Giving a slow shake of your head to satisfy his odd question resulted in him just nodding in understanding and pulling you towards an alley. 

…...this dudes conversation skills really needed working on. 

Oh wait, he was taking you to an alley?? To what??? Dump you there and run away??? How cruel. 

…...eh, not really, it was a sort of thing you could see yourself doing in a similar situation actually, so you held no hard feelings. Not really. Not at all. 

The stumbling of your legs was definitely the blood loss. Not because you were being slightly petty or anything. 

It wasn’t like you were going to actually die or anything anyway. No reason to mope. 

….yet despite the clear logic and understanding of his actions, you found your legs giving up their mobility, definitely not inwardly snickering when he stumbled as your legs finally gave out. 

“shit!” he quietly cursed before gaining his balance, swiftly adjusting his grip and hooking a hand under your knees while moving the other one to a strong grip around your shoulders, bringing you quickly up in a bride hold. 

The easy way he did it was certainly impressive, his strength surely adding up to a lot more if he could easily hold someone as tall as you with no problem. 

You were almost sure you would be blushing had your blood not currently been occupied leaking out of your wound. 

Finally making it into the alley, you prepared your backside for the drop, trying to convince yourself it wouldn’t be so bad and that you could just heal yourself when he was gone. 

The falling feeling came, but the arms around you didn’t move, a bone-chilling cold far colder than your unnatural cold biting into you, a sickly feeling of vertigo burying itself deep into your stomach and you had the brief through that maybe you were finally dying. 

The soft and mumbled ‘sorry’ that you managed to hear over your galloping heartbeat had you snapping your eyes open, not entirely sure when you had closed them, and blinking rapidly at the blinking light assaulting your retinas quite rudely. 

When your eyes finally did adjust, it was to the shocking sight of a spotless living room. Looking fairly blank with no little idle decorations anywhere, the only picture hanging from one wall being one of a giant bone.

………...weird. 

Had you passed out? No, that was impossible. What on earth happened? You turned curious eyes to the skeleton, but he wasn’t looking at you, rather, he was quickly making his way towards an open archway with a large amount of orange sweat sliding down his skull. 

“WHAT DID YOU DO _ NOW _ ?” The loud and exasperated voice had you jolt slightly, demanding your attention and redirecting it to another, _ really _ short skeleton with his hands crossed over his chest, the scowl on his face melting away slightly and an odd paling adorning his skull. Draining it of color you didn’t even know it had before the scowl was fitted back into place and he was already poking at you before you could object. 

The close proximity allowed you to get a rather good look at him, one you didn’t think was necessary. 

His teeth looked sharp enough to cut through steel, two deep gashes going through one of his eye sockets while both held little violet lights inside. Which were currently running over your wounded side and shrinking slightly in size. His build was different, his short stature giving his skull a rather round look that had your fingers twitching in an effort not to poke at his cheeks to see if they were actually as soft as they looked. Magic made little to no sense.

“i didn’t do it! some humans did!” the taller skeleton shifted from foot to foot anxiously, following after the tiny one when he snapped and turned on his heel, taking you to who knows where while you were trying to decide how to continue carrying out your act. 

You could just pretend to die and hope for the best. It felt like a solid enough plan. 

So you let yourself fall limp, closing your eyes and letting your breath puff out sadly like air fizzling out of a pathetic balloon. You ignored the pain that seized you when you were shaken slightly by now almost hysterical skeleton. 

“sans! sans they passed out! what do we do!?” The end of his sentence ended in a rather high pitched squeak and you almost felt sorry for causing so much panic, but you held out on your plan, not bothering to react when you felt yourself being gently placed down on something soft. 

“STOP FREAKING OUT! YOU'RE GOING TO MAKE ME FREAK OUT AND THEN WE WON’T HAVE ANYONE SENSIBLE TO TAKE CARE OF THIS!” The shorter (sans you suppose) growled out, and you felt warm skeletal fingers peel back your bloody shirt and ghost over your stinging flesh. 

It retracted but quickly came back with something warm and wet, and you didn’t bother to hide the flinch when the object was run carefully down your side. 

Something rattling confused you for a moment before you realized it was _ bones _ rattling against each other and the guilt of causing the current panic grew steadily. 

“oh my stars, if the lodge- or the humans!! oh stars, the humans are going to think _ i _ killed the human!! sans- i swear i didn't do it! i don’t want to go back! i didn’t-” 

“Papyrus." The steel voice cut him off abruptly, and you had to force your limbs to relax from the absolutely commanding tone of voice "You Need To Calm Down And Take Deep Breaths. I Need You To Focus, Alright?” The soft yet still stern voice had you somewhat surprised, you thought the shorty was all loud and the like, but perhaps that had been the panic speaking? 

“Now, I Need You To Go Get Some Monster Candy From The Cupboard In The Kitchen, It's Behind The Honey.” The command was the last thing you heard before the rattling stopped and the uncomfortable feeling of the rag (you're guessing) was removed and something else was pressed to your still bleeding wound. 

You _ realllyyyy _wanted to yelp at the burst of fire stinging your nerves, but having already come this far you didn’t really see a point in giving up (the guilt also kept telling you that you deserved it in a way) , so you just let yourself flinch uncomfortably in a way that simply added to your performance. 

A few crashes from somewhere farther away and a rather tired sigh from next to you had the guilt feel like it was starting to crush you for putting these strangers though so much trouble, but you'd dealt with worse, so you mercilessly build back up your wall of defiance, going as far as to pretend what you were doing was the right thing to make yourself feel better. 

It was going to be a long night.


	2. Hopefully Wendigos Don't Mind Squatters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woooo, thanks for reading people!

So monster candy was apparently used in healing, which was great! Because the moment it entered your system you released the hold on your healing, letting out a relieved sigh at the feeling of all your wounds closing up properly. 

After a rather awkward silence, you felt your bloody shirt get torn from the side and depth fingers pulled it off along with your jacket before replacing it with something far comfier. 

You would have felt rather embarrassed had you not been busy feeling like utter trash. 

You had tuned out your hearing a while ago, already feeling rather bitter for your performance that had caused the taller skeleton so much panic. There was no need for you to intrude on the two when they thought you were unconscious. 

But the moment the light you could see through your eyelids blackened, you peeked them open, giving a quick glance around the room before giving a deep sigh of relief and pushing the encounter far from your mind, focusing on any sounds you could hear through the door. 

It was suspiciously quiet. A feeling of needing to wait embedding itself in your gut and forcing your limbs to freeze as you waited. 

But your brain was screaming at you to move, eyes darting around before finally settling on a window and a plan began to form in your head. 

Window = way out. 

Praise your brilliant brain. 

You began to count, swiftly tossing your legs over the side of the bed you had been placed in and stealthily making your way across the room once you had counted down 2 minutes. 

Which was, admittedly, not long at all. But while laying in the dark with nothing to do, it felt like the minutes dragged on and tried to stretch into eternity. 

You cautiously pushed the window open, sticking your head out and glancing from side to side to determine where exactly you were. 

The sight that met you was not a welcome one. 

You slowly let your eyes trail to the treeline, dread settling into your stomach at the realization that you were nowhere near the city. It looked more like you were in the middle of a forest of some kind?

What. The. Actual. Fuck.

You lifted yourself out the window, gaze peering upwards and the wonder of seeing undisturbed stars leaving you starstruck for a brief moment. 

It looked so…._ perfect _. 

Swirling novas decorated the dark sky, colors that blended and glittered in ways you hadn’t seen in years shining high above you yet looking almost close enough that you could reach out and brush your fingertips against them. 

Breathless and amazed at the view, you unfortunately only noticed your foot catching on the window sill after it happened and were snatched out of your stargazing when you flew forward towards the ground with remarkable speed you didn’t think was possible to gain from doing such a thing. 

You face-planted into the ground in a rather uncomfortable position, legs bent at an awkward angle against the wall and upper half greeting the dirt like a long lost friend you didn’t know you missed. Your back instantly began to complain at the angle, and you slowly began to shuffle yourself to get up. Ignoring the pain in your foot and whining back as best as you could.

Finally getting yourself up, you braced a hand against your back with a wince before cracking it backward and grimacing at the loud snaps that felt like they echoed through the entire clearing. At least one good thing about your curse was the healing. 

You brushed the sticks and dirt from your front, pausing to admire the hoodie you now had on, the dark of the night distorted the color slightly, but you were pretty sure it was purple. Nice. 

You gave the small cottage one last look over your shoulder in silent thanks to the residents (even if you hadn’t really needed help) and took off in a random direction. Sprinting into the dark trees and hoping that there weren’t too many bears out at this time. 

………...After running for who knows how long, you collapsed onto the ground, all your surroundings looking generally the same and you having no clue if you had just been running in circles or if you were getting any closer to the exit of the forest.

…...maybe just chilling in the forest for a few years wouldn’t be _ so _bad. And the view of the stars was certainly one of the most gorgeous ones you had seen in the recent years. Honestly, the scariest thing you could think of living in these woods was a few Wendigos, and you heard that those guys had retires eons ago. (Probably because of the government or something else) 

At the recollection of the brilliant starts, you rolled onto your back, kicking your feet and legs out to settle comfortably into a starfish position. Though a frown soon found itself on your face at the realization that the sky was mostly blocked out by the surrounding trees. 

Heaving a crushing sigh, you got up onto your feet, twirling in a circle before abruptly stopping and taking a step forward in the direction you had chosen to go. 

Which was an immediate mistake. 

The almost unidentifiable sound of the ‘twang’ of a tight rope being strum gave you slight pause, which was the next mistake you made. 

Something yanked you up by your ankle, resulting in you letting out a loud yelp and flailing around like a live pinata as you swung to and fro from your new height, the rope tightening on your ankle the more you struggled. 

Your self-preservation skills kicked in, and you let yourself spin to a stop, letting gravity tug on your arms and loose leg while you carefully peeked up (down) at your bound ankle. 

It wasn’t a normal rope that bound you, but something shimmery that held a strength to it that you didn’t think you could snap. 

Ok, this was no big deal, you just needed to be calm and collected not worry about anything and- 

You flailed your arms, trying to bend at the waist to reach the rope, but the pull of gravity tugged you down again, and you already felt uncomfortable kinks settling themselves in your joints, especially your other leg. 

Which was awkwardly held out at a 90-degree angle and already beginning to ache far more than what you thought you could take. Flexibility had never been one of your main skills, and now you found yourself cursing that fact as you flailed around again like a fish out of water, struggling to reach something to get you out of the situation. 

With a defeated groan, you let gravity take hold of you again, letting your limbs flop down as you tried to properly asses the situation. 

Okay…..you were stuck, the rope(?) was strong, and you couldn't reach it to get yourself down. 

You let out a thoughtful hum, turning your gaze to the ground to find it surprisingly closer than you had thought. A feeling of hope sprouted in you, and you roughly curled yourself up as much as you could before flopping again. Whatever was holding you up bounced slightly, and you stuck your arms out as far as you could, trying not to think about the rope binding itself tighter against your ankle as you continued to make yourself bounce like some silly video-game character. 

Your fingers barely brushed against the ground, a frustrated growl leaving you when you sprung back up before you could properly grasp onto the grass beneath your high prison. The hold on your ankle was now beyond painful, squeezing tight enough to cut the blood flow and leaving your foot feeling uncomfortably numb in a way that stung harshly at your nerves. 

You tried again, and let out a relieved and victorious “Yes!” when you curled your fingers into the grass, only to let out a defeated and wailing “NO!” when the grass was ripped from the ground with you and fell from your fingers quite sadly. 

Your breath was coming out in small puffs, little clouds curling into the cold night as you scowled down at the ground like it was the reason you were in this mess. You turned your evil eye to the rope that bound you, giving it a mean snarl before whipping your limbs about like a child throwing a tantrum. 

Squeezing your eyes against the tears that threatened to fall and shaking your fists angrily at the events that had passed, you grumbled out incoherent sentences. You just wanted peace in your dreaded life, was that too much to ask for?!

You let yourself fall limp again, sniffling and refusing to let the frustrated tears fall. There wasn’t too much of a reason to cry. You just really needed to get out of the darned trap that felt like it was trying to pry your ankle from your body. 

It was now brighter than before, the night steadily coming to a close, and knowing you were going to be stuck and most likely fired from your job did nothing to lift your spirits. 

No! You would not give up yet! You just needed to get out of the damned trap!

Which was possible!!!….. Somehow. 

Refusing to give up, you moved your hands to grip your pants, slowly moving your grip upward and unwilling to acknowledge the pain of your tendons bending farther than they were used to. 

Thankfully the rope had caught the end of your pants, allowing you to pull at it and bend yourself in an ungodly way that had healing magic sparking and rushing to aid. 

How on earth did those flexible people actually do it without ripping themselves in half!? 

When you finally bent far enough, you curled a hand around your bound foot, giving yourself a moment to breathe from the strain you were putting your body through. If you could help it, you were never going to do anything like this again. 

Taking a deep breath, you looked up at the rope around you, only for your little success to fall flat and seemingly unimportant at the incredibly practiced way the rope was placed and knotted. 

Whoever set the trap up knew what they were doing. 

It was fine, you were fine, it wasn’t time to panic. You just had to….

You moved to grip the thin line, the texture feeling rather slick against your hand. The real surprise was that the rope wasn’t really a rope at all, more of a really cool wire or something of the like? It didn’t feel like wire though, more like something silky. Whatever it was, you hadn’t ever seen it in your lifetime. Which was really saying something. 

You pinched the rope between two fingers before letting go, going back to gripping your foot while you tried to figure something out.

You were stuck in an even worse position than before. 

“Mother of FUCK!” you cursed loudly, metaphorically scratching your head and wondering what on earth you were going to do now. 

Acting on your frustration, you gripped the rope tighter than before and yanked on it, letting out a few high pitched, frustrated screams while you tugged on is as though it would actually release you.

“WOWIE!! I DID _ NOT _ KNOW YOU HUMANS COULD BEND LIKE THAT WHILE STILL BEING ALIVE!” 

You jolted in fear, your hand losing its grip on the rope and sending you falling backward and into crazy spins with your arms whipping around and trying to stop your fast and not entirely joyful ride. 

“OH DEAR! WAIT ONE MOMENT HUMAN!” The loud voice said, and you would have responded had you not felt like the moment you opened your mouth you would just let out a scream and desperate pleas to get you down. 

You came to a jarring stop when hands somehow grasped onto your legs, your eyes feeling like they were rattling around in your skull and trying to figure out which way was what. The dizziness spun everything around you, and you only realized that you were looking at legs after a few long seconds. 

Slowly you looked up at your savior, trying to blink away the spinning world to properly focus.

Well, they were tall. Very tall. Surprisingly tall. And pale. What you could see of their skin was white, the dim light gleaming off of it in an almost intimidating way. 

There was no doubt in your mind that the creature before you was a Wendigo. Of course they _ hadn’t _ retired after all. 

You opened your mouth to scream, bargains and pleas for mercy on the tip of your tongue. Maybe if he agreed not to torture you, then you might make good roommates!

Instead, you felt yourself get airborne before falling to the ground and you let out a loud ‘OOF’ when you fell uncomfortably on your shoulders, letting your other limbs flop onto the ground while you stared up rather blankly at the Wendigo with wide eyes and an open mouth. Trying to gulp down the air that had fled your lungs and left you a sputtering mess. 

You were pretty sure you heard another loud ‘OH DEAR’ but your current focus was on getting yourself to breathe properly, gasping down heavy breaths while you pushed yourself up into a sitting position and tried to get your point of gravity corrected while the world still danced crazily around you like it was raving and refusing to give you peace of any kind. 

Feeling the world still swaying underneath you, you were rather thankful when a hand steadied you by your shoulder, grounding you and helping you properly discern how you were supposed to be sitting up in the now slowly spinning world. 

“Th-thanks,” you somehow managed to get out, still wheezing from the impact you had received and gripping onto the hand on your shoulder when it maneuvered you to stand properly. 

You nearly toppled over when you were turned around, holding in a gag at nausea prickling at your stomach and brewing a terrible headache. 

Still gripping the hand, you froze at the abrupt knowledge that you were still clinging to a beast, his hand still holding you steady and helping you. 

You felt the blood drain from your face, your eyes inching fearfully up to the assumingly terrifying view that would greet you. The last time you had seen a mysterious cryptid of this sort had not ended too well, and it was a very good thing you could heal fast because if you couldn’t have….well. 

The moment your eyes caught on something strange and...round?? On their chest you felt yourself relaxing slightly, the sight of a long spine and hollow space easing you as well. The moment you tilted your head back slightly to get a look at their face, the panic was all gone, and you let out a long, relieved sigh before patting the hand on your shoulder with a small grin. 

It was just a skeleton. 

Not one you had already met, and a rather a taller one, your head barely made it to his shoulders, yet the way he was hunching himself steadily smaller the longer you stared allowed you to basically be eye to eye with him. 

He looked particularly worn, his bones having more of tint to them than the other skeletons you had met, and his wonderfully squishy looking face sporting teeth that stuck out unpleasantly, the few intact and the ones that didn’t look like they were beaten in by a shovel were quite sharp. 

Maybe all skeletons just had sharp teeth…...or you just hadn’t met one with normal teeth yet?? How on earth would a magical skeleton _ look _ with normal human teeth….you tired not to visualize it.

“ARE YOU ALRIGHT, HUMAN?” 

You blinked, the somewhat nervous question drawing you out of your thoughts, and it dawned on you that you had been staring at the large skeleton for far longer than what was polite. 

How rude of you. 

Pulling a smile onto your face, you took the hand from your shoulder quite easily and gave it a firm shake, the mental picture of the skeletons face proudly telling you ‘You’re hired’ making you old back a snort as you introduced yourself. 

“Hello! My names (y/n)! Nice to meet you…” You trailed off, waiting for him to provide his name to complete your greeting. 

…..he was just looking at you in shock, making no move to remove his hand from yours nor looking like he was about to provide a name to you anytime soon. 

You felt your smile begin to droop, releasing his hand with an awkward chuckle and scratching the back of your neck while intently inspecting the ankle that had been bound. 

There was no visible damage leftover from the weird rope that you had been struggling with, meaning it must have healed when you weren't paying full attention, and you slowly shifted the leg behind your other one while trying to do so casually. 

Looked like that was enough to snap the skeleton out of whatever daze he had been in. 

“APOLOGIES. I WAS LOST IN THOUGHT! I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS! IT’S NICE TO MEET YOU TOO, HUMAN!” He posed heroically, one hand on his chest with his scarf somehow fluttering almost sadly in a nonexistent breeze. 

You stuffed your hands into your pockets and returned to smiling at him politely. 

“That's alright, it happens to the best of us.” Giving a shrug you looked around “Say, um, do you know the way out of these woods, cuz I’ve been lost for a _ while _ now and would really appreciate a point in the right direction?” You gave a sheepish laugh to mask your embarrassment, wondering if the name ‘Papyrus’ was a common one among monsters. 

“OF COURSE!! BUT I THINK I SHOULD LOOK AT YOUR ANKLE BEFORE YOU TRY AND GO ANYWHERE,” He said confidently, moving forward into a kneel while reaching for your leg. 

Before he could grab onto you, you jerked back in instinct, trying to hide the fact that there wasn’t even a minimal bruising on your skin while distracting him by waving your hands in a show of dismissal. 

“No, No, I’m perfectly fine! No need to worry!” Which was entirely true, but for some reason when he narrowed his eyesockets and now stared up at you suspiciously you felt like you were lying. 

“ARE YOU SURE HUMAN?” The question had you nodding rapidly, subtly swiping at the sweat gathering on your forehead and passing it off as casually brushing your hair out of your face. 

“REALLY? WHEN I WAS GETTING YOU DOWN IT LOOKED LIKE IT WAS HURTING A LOT,” He tilted his head to the side, the suspicion on his face melting away into what you thought was supposed to be a comforting smile, his teeth did not help too much with the gesture “I ASSURE YOU, IF YOU LET ME HEAL IT, IT WILL FEEL PERFECT IN NO TIME!” 

Getting caught in your deceiving ways, you froze up, mind racing and frantically scrambling to find something to distract him with. 

“Uh, Well-” Your eyes darted around, a pathetic plan the only plan you were coming up with, and you grimaced at the absolutely childish feel of it. 

But it was the only plan you had. 

You gasped dramatically, pointing behind him with a shocked expression “oHMIGOD WHATS THAT!!?!?” 

…...He turned to look. 

You didn’t waste a moment to dwell on your ridiculous victory, spinning on your heel and darting off as fast as you could, paying no mind to the shout behind you and storming footsteps you could hear following behind you. You praised nobody in particular for your long legs. 

Sure, he would now OBVIOUSLY know your ankle didn’t hurt, but as long as he didn't catch you he couldn’t ask questions, and not being asked questions was good enough for you. 

Your feet slammed against the ground, faster than you could remember running in a few years, and you almost effortlessly dodged the roots and branches blocking your way. Though your lungs were complaining and you found yourself heaving in an effort to keep going. A glance over your shoulder revealed that Papyrus was still behind you, waving his hands around while shouting something you didn’t bother to listen to, you let out a loud groan before taking a sharp turn to the left and continuing with your escape. 

It was a few agonizingly long seconds later when you spotted a few dim lights in the distance, and you swerved to head towards them, not bothering to think of what it could be as you focused on pumping your legs and arms faster. 

The early morning light was barely spilling through the trees, which meant that if you were lucky, it still wasn’t late enough to get fired. 

Breaking through the treeline, you almost stumbled at the sight that greeted you. 

A rather worn down lodge shinning like a hopeful beacon in times of distress, you wasted no time to rush to the back door you could see, almost gliding across the wooden porch and slamming the back door open with so much force you were sure it fell off its hinges. Entering quickly into what looked like a wreak of a kitchen while glancing back and trying to think of how much time you could buy. 

You could hide in here and then double back to avoid the- 

You froze. 

Three skeletons were staring at you with wide sockets, one short one that reminded you of Sans only softer looking? And two taller ones who looked similar to both the Papyruses (Papyri? Paps?) that you had already met, in fact, one almost looked like the exact copy of the taller one that was chasing you, if he had his teeth straight and was shorter that is. The two were by a stove, glitter slowly pouring out a large bucket the smaller was holding up while the Papyrus look-alike was holding a spatula and pointing it at you with absolute shock on his face.

The last Papyrus looking skeleton was leaning on the kitchens bar, cigarette limply dangling from his fingers and looking a lot like he didn’t entirely believe what he was seeing. 

A sound from behind you had you jolt back into action, throwing yourself away from the door-frame and to the open archway leading out of the kitchen. 

It was like someone had unpaused all the skeletons, the short one fumbling with the almost empty bucket before tossing it _ at _ you, resulting in you ducking and getting rained upon by substance while letting out a squeak of surprise. 

A loud “BLUE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” and overlapping “I PANICKED!!!” startled you briefly into stumbling into a wall, but you shoved yourself off and ran a quick hand through your hair before backing up slowly with your hands held up in a placating manner. 

The glitter that showered itself onto your face let you know that there was currently _ a lot _ of glitter decorating your body, particularly your hair. 

Great. Three months from now you were sure you were still gonna be finding glitter in places glitter absolutely shouldn't be. 

The one wielding the spatula, whom you decided to creatively name Spatula, took a few strides towards you, his mouth opening to say something before he was cut off by a loud slam against the door-frame. 

A quick glance let you know that the tall Papyrus had caught up, and unfortunately slammed his head against the shorter door-frame. Or fortunately, because it gave you time to ESCAPE!

You twirled towards the archway again, letting out a shriek and bouncing back at the hoodie-wearing skeleton who you were sure had not been there a few seconds ago. He honestly looked like he would rather be anywhere else, and you didn’t blame him, it was far too early to have strangers barging into your house. 

Acting on pure panic, you bounced yourself forward, latching onto the orange skeleton and hurling him up into your arms while dashing out of the kitchen. 

If the loud yell and surprised grip on you was any indication, the skeleton had not expected that at all. 

But you weren’t paying much mind to him, wildly looking around to find yourself in a living room that was exceptionally nice, trying to find a door because you really needed out of there now please!! 

Several footsteps catching up to you had panic mode in full overdrive. And the realization that you were cornered was not a nice one. 

You spun around, grip tight on the skeleton still in your arms (Whom was freaking out beyond freaking out and convincing himself that he was still asleep in his bed) and facing the other skeletons with wide eyes, your mind racing on how on earth you were going to get out of the entire situation now that it had blown up far larger than you wanted it to. 

Eyes bouncing from skeleton to skeleton revealed that they were all in defensive positions, the short one looking beyond terrified for some reason or another. 

Realizing you weren’t getting out of the situation without saying or doing _ something _ had you opening your mouth to come up with lies that would hopefully convince someone that their own hair was a different color. 

A quiet ‘pop’ and the sudden existence of a skeleton you recognized appearing out of nowhere had the words dying on the tip of your tongue, gawking at the very first Papyrus you had met. 

He was facing the other skeletons, and he jumped back towards your direction, probably having no idea what was going on, and the moment he realized they were all looking behind him, he turned too, stopping like he had been struck by a thunderbolt and staring at you like you had 3 heads. 

Your moment of redemption was upon you!!!! 

……..You threw the skeleton in your arms towards the one in front of you, praying that he would catch him and cause at least more of a distraction, yelps and shouts rang around you at the action, and the hands reaching for you were a moment too late as you turned and snatched a random object off a cupboard, taking a running leap off the low coffee table and throwing the object as hard as you could at the large window in front of you and bracing yourself to crash through it. 

The loud shattering of glass and following impact of you crashing through let you know you had made it out properly. 

You let yourself roll, the adrenaline pumping through your veins helping you spring back up and into action, sprinting away in a random direction, your sweat-soaked body beginning to cry again at the effort to get away. 

You ignored the distressed shouts following after you, pumping yourself up with encouragement that was mostly false. But at least you made an effort! 

…...It was going to be a long day. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *What Horror Paps shouting practically the entire time reader was running away* WAIT THERE ARE A LOT MORE TRAPS AND MAGNIFICENT PUZZLES THAT WAY!!!
> 
> .....poor Swap Pap :') 
> 
> Let me know what you think!


	3. To The Window, To The Wall, To The- Wait a Second

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow um, im so glad this has gotten so many reads already? 
> 
> Hi you! Hope you enjoy?

Each breath into your lungs felt like it was going to be your last, your legs becoming more clumsy the more you ran, feeling like they were going to wilt underneath you at a moment's notice. 

And you hadn’t even made it very far from the damned lodge! if you looked over your shoulder, you could still see the cursed place!

Wheezing pathetically from the exercise you had not at all planed on this fateful day, you pushed yourself on, making sure to take a few crazy turns to throw off any pursuers on your tail and running for a full three minutes before slowing sluggishly into a jog, and then a walk, and then just stopping and leaning against a tree while fighting off the need to choke on your own spit. 

Damnit. Knowing you should probably work out more yet also knowing you would probably just put it off until you eventually, _ blissfully _ forgot, had you let out a loud groan and slump heavily into the tree, cheek pressing against the rough bark as you gulped down heavy breaths and wondered how on earth anyone ran for any longer. 

You let your legs finally have peace, sliding down against the tree trunk and curling into yourself, tugging the neck of your hood up and over your head, the thought of shrinking into nothingness very appealing to you at the moment. 

Maybe you could just stay there for a while, just hoping nobody found you or tried to bother you. 

If you were lucky enough or dared to even think of the better possibilities, then you had gotten lost enough for your skeleton pursuers to not find you for a while before you had to move again. 

Time began passing, you head remaining blissfully blank, solely focusing on the small sounds of the forest, the chirping of birds, the rustling of branches and leaves dancing in the soft breeze, the unmistakable sound of footsteps on the forest floor nearing your pathetic hiding spot and- 

“HUMAN!” 

Shit.

You jerked your head out of your makeshift burrow, the light blinding you for a brief moment as you scrambled to stand and race off again. You had just leaned forward and were using your hands to launch yourself off the ground when a red, jagged, and very _ deadly _ bone shot out of the ground in front of you. 

Luckily, your limbs decided to freeze, the weapon mere inches from your nose and you swore you could feel a buzzing energy radiating off it and tickling the tip of your nose in a rather strange way. 

That would have been a real pain to have in your head. 

Gulping down the scream that got stuck in your throat, you robotically turned your head to the side, wide eyes taking in the sight of a beast! With its large, fur filled face- yeah no, it was another mother. fucking. skeleton. 

Surprise.

He was ANOTHER Papyrus looking skeleton and you were beginning to seriously think that skeletons only came in two forms, a tall and Papyrus form, or a small and Sans form. 

….which was probably racist or something. 

He had two scars running through one of his eye sockets, his sharp, intimidating teeth adding to his already fearsome stance and pointy edges. 

Though the confoundedly colorful exercise wear he had on rejected all idea of anything tremendously badass, rivaling the fearsome look on his face with the absolutely blindingly neon green shorts and jaw-dropping hot pink of his top. Not to mention the bluescreen blue bandanna on his skull…..did skeletons sweat?? You thought they did?? Didn’t you see a skeleton sweating already a few hours ago??

You pulled yourself out of your thoughts with a tiny shake of your head, going back to judging the skeletons fashion choices as if it really mattered at the moment. 

……...he somehow kind of pulled it off really well????

Why on earth were there so many skeletons in one damned forest? Was there a necromancer living close by or were all these ones actual monsters that had crawled out of that mountain? 

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?” His voice was loud, and despite the ring in your ears, you were sure you heard the closest birds for a few miles flutter out of their trees and away from the disturbance that shattered the peaceful atmosphere. 

You pushed all odd thoughts out of your mind and stared up at the skeleton, opening your mouth to answer yet coming up short, not fully knowing how to answer the question. Your brain felt like it had gotten fried. 

“I….got lost?” You answered uncertainly, the truth of those words striking you as you reviewed the previous night and following hours. 

This had all started because drunk you had decided to get lost. Whoop de do. 

Yeah, definitely 0 stars for the crazy night, absolute nada for all the trouble and running you had to do. 

A disbelieving scoff had you furrowing your brows at the skeleton. “THE NEAREST TOWN IS 30 MINUTES FROM HERE BY DRIVE, AND I AM PRETTY SURE I SAW NO CARS ON THE ROAD WHILE ON MY JOG. SO!” a bone materialized out of nowhere, landing ominously into the skeletons outstretched hand, he twirled it once in the air, catching it a little too perfectly in a show of practiced balance. “I SUGGEST YOU TELL ME THE TRUTH.” 

All the while his piercing red eye lights burned into you, voice dipping into a warning tone that had you tensing unintentionally. 

….Alright, so he did have you a _ little _ nervous, but knowing he couldn’t really _ do _ anything to you offered some comfort.

….not very good comfort, but at least some sort of comfort.

A plan. 

You really needed a plan.

And the ones you kept coming up with were just absolutely ridiculous. 

You let out an all too casual sigh, standing and brushing yourself off with an air of nonchalance while your nerves were screaming at you to bolt again, mind putting a little too much focus on the danger ahead of you in a way you weren’t fond of. You needed more time to think properly. Too bad you didn’t have any. 

Finally getting enough dirt off yourself, you placed your hands on your hips, peering at the skeleton across from you before giving an easy grin, ignoring the panic telling you to bolt away. 

You were sure you wouldn’t make it two steps before a bone was embedded into your head. The resulting headache and following process of playing dead twice in one day did not sound at all fun. 

“Well!! So I was at this one guys house, Papyrus house? Just, you know, chillin. Before I decided to go on a walk cuz the night sky was just so-” You squeezed a fist in a show of passionate dramatics “_ gorgeous _. But anyway! Yeah, I got lost.” 

You gave a helpless shrug, tucking your hands into your back pockets and rocking lightly on your heels all while giving the skeleton that easy-going smile. Mentally, you were dying. 

The thought of your not-entirely-true story kicking you in the ass with karma was a huge concern, but you drowned out the panic as best you could, focusing on the reaction you would get and repeating an insistent mantra that it was all gonna be okay. 

The way his glare turned suspicious did nothing to help the unbridled anxiety trampling your nerves, and you felt your smile twitch at the edges. 

“AND YOU EXPECT ME TO BELIEVE THAT YOU’VE BEEN OUT HERE SINCE LAST NIGHT?” 

The question was logical, yet you found your brain blank with no correct answer present.

“Uh, well, I mean its only been a few hours or something I think,” You tilted your head towards the sky, trying to remember what ungodly hour you had decided to stumble home at and how much time had passed since then “I don’t know how long I’ve actually been out? Probably an hour? Two?” You gave a slow shrug, not bothering to hide the genuine puzzlement over the time you had spent outside. 

“............ALRIGHT.” He finally said, a barely noticeable hint of disappointment in his tone, though you couldn’t for the life of you figure out why. 

Before you could properly say anything else, the spiky skeleton continued “COME THEN, BEST TO GET YOU BACK,” He flipped the bone in his hands a final time before it vanished in mid-air and he crossed his arms, seemingly waiting for you to go up to him before he started walking. 

You covered up your wince with a nervous chuckle and a nod, striding up and next to him as he began walking off. The thought of bolting away again and just finding your own way out was tempting, but the absolute hopelessness for your sense of direction and knowledge that you somehow wouldn’t be able to outrun the skeleton now by your side had you continue. 

A pleased feeling had you smiling when you realized you were both practically the same height, though you were sure you must have been taller by at least a millimeter or two. 

Nice. 

The walk was spent in mildly awkward silence, except for the occasional disapproving huff or side glace the skeleton gave you. Which, rude.

….but you suppose understandable in a way. 

You certainly felt like a mess, and even if the crazy night hadn’t added its chaotic amount of damage to your appearance, you were sure you would still have looked like quite the spectacle. 

Truly a sight to behold, in all your giant glory and uncaring appearance.

Work was mainly the only place you went to, so who cared what you looked like when you were off the clock? Certainly not you, and all other opinions didn’t matter eventually. 

Though you had to admit, you seriously should get a trim. Your hair was out of control, taking over your head in a show of rebellion you hadn’t expected to sprout from your own head. 

Before you could continue your line of thought, you both broke through the treeline. An all too familiar lodge coming into view…...along with the victimized window and trail of glass and glitter leading into the forest. 

The slow comprehension of your brain choking out what exactly the scene meant for you was unbelievably distressing, hitting you like a truck and leaving you to pale, you let your eyes gradually inch to the skeleton at your side, who was still luckily inspecting the scene with a baffled expression, his eyelights trailing from the window….to the ground….to the small trails of impossibly bright glitter on the ground….and suddenly to you. 

You tensed, the inching you had been doing towards the trees being abandoned, and you could practically feel every tiny traitorous speck of shiny plastic on you, in your hair...on your face….kind of uncomfortably in your nose…..yeah, this did not bode well for you at all. 

You flicked your gaze back over to the scene, and then back to the skeleton, then back to the scene…..you let out a nervous laugh, once again settling your gaze on the skeleton, who was once again inspecting the scene slowly, as though looking for something specific. 

Seeing your slim chance for survival, you bolted, turning back the way you came so fast it left the world still spinning when you had fully turned. 

Something yanking on the back of your hood and jerking you back onto the ground dashed your hopes away, a gag escaping you and hands flying to your throat in an attempt to loosen the cloth strangling you. 

You gave a wheezy plea for release that went ignored, and your nose scrunched up in frustration as you clutched at the neck of your hood. The cold grass tickling the now exposed parts of your back and belly, an uncomfortable shiver running up your spine at the chilly morning dew licking your back. 

Hooking your fingers over your collar, you tilted your head back in an attempt to address the skeleton, “Hey! Hey come on, this is all a misunderstanding!” Your bleak excuse went ignored, skeleton not even sparing you a glance as he continued to march across the yard with you towed behind him like a sad excuse of a child's toy. 

You let out a sigh before letting your entire body go limp, though your fingers still protected you from a pathetic death. 

If this was your fate, so be it. You just wanted to get it over with already so you could go back to not thinking too much about everything.

_ Thump _ “Ow.” _ Thump _ “Ow.” _ Thump _“Ow.”

The porch steps were merciless on your back, and you muttered out a curse at the skeleton for not being more gentle, though that too went ignored and drowned out when he slammed the door open like he expected to catch someone in the middle of an atrocious act. 

You craned your head back again, letting out a silent, relieved sigh when you didn’t spot any other skeleton in the short hall. 

The skeleton gave a brief pause, foot not yet crossing the threshold, and head tilted slightly to the side, giving you the impression that he was listening closely for something. 

You followed his example and focused on all you could hear, though you weren’t sure what you were even listening so intently for. 

The chirp of birds, the rustling of the wind playing with the trees, the creaking of the large house settling, the-

Before you could process any concerning sounds, you were being dragged again, and you let out an unintentional yelp at the sharp tug that yanked you down the hall. 

“Geeze! Would it kill ya to be more gentle?!” You grumbled silently, fingers squeezing at the fabric at your throat as you began to wiggle around for escape. 

If you were going to be mistreated over a most likely misunderstanding that made no sense whatsoever, it was best you find a way out. 

“SANS!!” The sudden, booming voice of the skeleton holding you captive made you jolt in surprise, craning your neck to stare up at him like he was a madman for shouting so loudly. 

You were hauled around a corner and into an all too familiar living room that made you groan in agony. 

“RED!!! GET DOWN HERE YOU LAZY-” 

A crashing from above drowned out whatever insult the skeleton was brewing up, the silence that followed full of anticipation as you found the stairs and glared at them in concentration, trying to use the mental powers you didn't have to keep whoever (or whatever) Red was upstairs. 

You started tugging at the tiny piece of cloth keeping you captive, still keeping your eyes focused on the stairs as you yanked on it with your somewhat pathetic noodle arms over and over, growing more frustrated as the seconds ticked by with no result to your obviously hard work. 

“RED!” 

“geeze! I’m here boss! what da ya-” 

You whipped your head around to the new voice, mind trying to come up with a reasonable explanation as to why a new, shorter skeleton was in the room without you having seen him enter. The same weird thing had happened earlier, the sudden appearance of first Papyrus not making any sense and now haunting you as you tried to think of something logical to explain the illogical and impossible. 

The skeleton looked a lot like the Sans you had met before…..though entirely different in a way. They still had sharp teeth, a golden one glittering in the early morning light spilling through the shattered window, and a scar running through an eyesocket, not unlike the scars you had already seen. 

They were taller, yet stockier, shoulders wide and stance looking to be in an eternal, tired slouch that you related to. Their clothes were different too, a black t-shirt paired with loose basketball shorts and untied sneakers on their feet. 

“.....what the fuck paps.” The new skeleton brought his hands up, rubbing at his sockets with his …..palms???? Before dragging them down his face and leaving them covering his weird skeleton mouth as he stared at the shattered window….his shrunken red eyelights almost invisible as they followed the trail of glitter scattered through the room….then he finally caught sight of you. 

“what. the. fuck.” 

“LANGUAGE! ANYWAYS-” You were yanked up and you stumbled on your feet clumsily before shooting a glare to the skeleton rough handling you “I CAUGHT AN INTRUDER!” Tall skeleton placed a hand on his chest proudly, puffing up as though he had done a great deed that no one had done before. 

You simply rolled your eyes, not at all sulking in silence as you waited for your turn to explain everything. 

“I’AM POSITIVE THEY BROKE IN TO KILL EVERYONE AND SEEING AS BABY BLUE AND CREAMPUFF ARE NOT AROUND, I THINK THEY MIGHT HAVE SOMEWHAT SUCCEEDED...” The victorious tone he had trailed off into uncertainty at the end of his sentence, an unanswered question being thrown into the air. 

Your eyes widened at the accusation, and you jerked your head around to stare at the skeleton in bewilderment. 

“Oh wow, okay lets back this all up,” You rolled your hands backward, spinning them around each other as though the visual would actually help with the situation. 

“what.” 

The tiny skeleton had spoken at the same time you had, but you paid no mind to him, trying to figure out how the skeleton had come to that conclusion and how to properly diffuse the situation. 

“Okay, well, uh. I didn’t kill anyone? Things just kinda got out of control, and I got trapped in a weird trap, and there was this other _ way _ taller dude who got me out and then other stuff kinda-” You pulled harder on the collar of your hood, fingers stinging with the sensation of going numb as you yanked now with a sense of alarm flooding you. 

Hell, you hadn’t killed anyone in years, and it was a record you were not seeking to break any time soon. 

“YOUR LIES WILL NOT FOOL ME, HUMAN!” Tall Skeleton interrupted triumphantly with a cackle, and you felt frustration build itself up, the want to just get what was a big misunderstanding over with. 

“I’m. not. lying!”You yanked harder with each seething word, glare now growing more frustrated at the entire situation yet being taken out on the skeleton before you.

…...Though the understanding of how everything _ must _look kept you from lashing out entirely.

“Listen-” 

You were cut off by the air leaving your lungs as your knees crashed into the floor, a weight that didn't feel natural dragging you to the ground, feeling like it was trying to crush you with the weight of the world. 

Before you could properly discern what on earth it was, the sound of a door slamming open rang through the house, and the pressure vanished just as quickly as it had come. Leaving your limbs feeling like jelly as you flopped forward onto your face and onto the ground, who was becoming more than a smooching acquaintance at this point, and letting out a miserable groan while the sound of several footsteps rushed into the room you were in. 

“HUMAN!” The familiar, loud voice and sudden grip on your ankle clued you in to who now had a hold of you, pulling your ankle up in an uncomfortable way and dragging you across the ground slightly. Face sliding across the wooden floor as a defeated sigh left you. 

“Heyyyyyyy-” 

“dude! me an black _ just _finished patching em up!” 

You were mercifully cut off from an explanation you didn’t have, though the dread of the inevitable had you grimacing as you tried to think of an acceptable excuse to explain……..whatever it was that you did. 

Your ankle was released, falling to the ground with a loud ‘thump’ and buzzing energy stinging where the skeletal fingers had been wrapped around. 

“SO YOU _ AREN’T _DEAD!” 

“What do you mean by that?” Ah, orange hoodie dude was back too. Fun. 

“NOTHING, JUST-” 

You covered your ears, the muted sounds better than the full volume of their whatever it was, and let out another sigh, squeezing your eyes shut and pretending you were at home, just daydreaming and letting the hours pass by as you laid in bed, curled under the warmth of your covers that did nothing to lull you to sleep, the endless thoughts sometimes just stopping as you focused on the stars outside your window and- 

It was quiet. 

You held your breath, slowly prying your hands off your ears and peeking up only to come face to face with faded pink slippers, they looked comfy. 

Your eyes trailed up from the slippers, stopping when they met the white lights of the skeleton crouching in front of you, a bone brow somehow raised with curiosity, and _ amusement _, while they looked down at you. 

The new skeleton tilted their face slightly to the side, grin looking tight with a tension that you didn't bother to react to. You were just tired, you wanted whatever this mess was to be done and over with, you wanted to go to work, get some cash, and then just drink all your thoughts away before stumbling home to repeat the daily process. 

“......human-” 

You let out a sharp, amused snort, unintentionally interrupting what might have been your savior as you buried your face into your elbows and begun laughing softly.

It wasn’t even past noon and already it had been far too long of a day. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly kind of don't know what I am doing ^^; 
> 
> I rewrote this chapter so many times and still didn't entirely feel satisfied by the end, but hey! they can't all be winners! (apparently)......(T-T)
> 
> Hope you enjoy!
> 
> Feedback is always appreciated!


	4. -Insert Keysmash-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Throws this at you and scrambles back into my grave like the horrible goblin I am-

Explaining yourself wasn’t working out too well, the words getting lost in the continued, sputtering laughter shaking your shoulders as you pressed your head against the cool floor. Trying to control the laughter before you were dubbed insane and tossed into an even worse situation. 

Tough at precisely that moment you couldn’t imagine a worse scenario. 

Biting your lip to stifle the laughter, you lifted your head once more, A little pitiful hope that the scene from before had changed and that you weren’t where you most certainly were. 

No such luck. 

You were met with the same skeletons, the same scene, and the same broken window, all in the same damned living room. 

  
  


……..you lowered your head back onto the cold floor, not willing to register the looks on the skeletons’ faces before doing so, and slowly felt the laughter dying away in your chest, the giddy adrenaline of the impossibly long morning now leaking out of your system. 

Leaving only the pathetically empty reserves of embarrassment you had left in you to shuffle yourself onto your butt, a grin on your face despite your attempt to wipe it away as you glanced around the room of weary skeletons. 

You gave a click of your tongue, throwing a wink to the first Papyrus with a fingergun to accompany it in a show of carefree attitude that seriously felt out of place due to the circumstances. 

“Sup?” 

A beat passed, then two, and you casually went to scratching the small bits of glitter off your face. 

It was as if the motion of the ‘enemy’ in the house spurred everyone into action and took a heavy hammer to the silence, shattering it as voices toppled over each other and words got lost into one other. 

And you just….leaned back on your hands, eyes bouncing from skeleton to skeleton as you let it all play out. You felt your mind begin to wander as you thought about nothing in particular. 

Maybe that one book you had been looking forward to for a while was finally out….it had certainly been a while and you were sure the author had implied they were going to release it soon. 

Perhaps you could binge-watch one of your favorite series again and munch on tasteless popcorn while laughing your head off and somewhat intentionally keeping the rude neighbors awake with your ruckus. 

Or you could pull a huge prank on someone. 

That actually sounded fun. 

Perhaps you could fake your death and vanish for a few thousand years into nowhere in particular. 

The loose plan started stringing itself together, and you hummed a soft tune as you thought over the details and how it would probably come back to bite you in the ass a few years in the future. 

You were pulled out of your scheming by a blue, glitter-covered, gloved hand entering your downcast vision. Blinking at the sudden intrusion, you trailed your eyes up to find the hand attached to the small blue skeleton that had been in the kitchen. 

The one that attacked you with the glitter. 

  
  


They looked unsure of themselves, a strained grin on their weirdly squishy looking face with the little lights in their sockets darting around your face as if looking for anything dangerous. 

You put effort into not narrowing your eyes in suspicion.

Instead, you slapped on the best carefree smile you could at the moment, tilted your head back slightly and grinned like an inviting fool at the tiny skeleton. 

The unsure, tiny crumple pinching their face melted away. An almost blindingly cheery grin taking its place and lighting up the room. 

You had the urge to squint your eyes to fight against the brightness of it. 

You refrained from doing so. 

…barely

The hand presented itself to you once again with renewed vigor, and you found yourself taking it before really thinking about what it would imply or lead to later. 

……..though found that you didn’t actually care that much. 

The tiny skeleton somehow easily pulled you to your feet and you were shocked to see how tiny they really were. 

It looked like they barely made it to your midriff. 

They were tiny, and cheery looking, and looked almost exactly like the sans you had already met. Except they were softer looking, their teeth not sharpened to points and the lights in their eyes light baby blue that matched their gloves. 

  
  


….they looked so hug-gable. 

You blinked out of your thoughts, knowing that the tiny skeleton asked you something but really quite unaware of what it had been. 

In truth, you hadn’t been listening, too focused on the size and almost unbearable cuteness of them while they had spoken. 

Letting out a sheepish chuckle, you settled for giving a tiny shrug and tilt of your head. Hoping it was the right response. 

The smile that you got from the somewhat awkward response let the unease sink from your frame, letting the skeleton tug you towards where you knew the kitchen was. 

Maybe you were about to get the easy way out of the situation. 

“OH NO YOU DON’T!” 

The towering shadow of death rose in your way, killing what you hoped had been an escape and bringing the attention to you once more. He glared down at the tiny skeleton clutching onto your hand like it was his job to do so, and you couldn’t ignore the annoyance that started pricking at you from the action. 

There was no reason to be mad at the little dude. 

Acting mostly on impulse (which is kind of what got you into the entire situation in the first place) You straightened out, chest puffing up and shoulders squaring in a challenging way, the gleam in your eyes growing as you narrowed them at the skeleton blocking your way. 

The skeletons glare shifted to yours, and you could swear on your pitiful existence that lightning flashed between your glares. 

A hand gripping your upper arm and yanking you back broke the staring contest, your feet stumbling out from underneath you as you were dragged backward by an unknown assailant. 

You opened our mouth to protest, hand slipping from the tiny skeletons hand yet managing to grip onto his glove. The result ending up in the glove simply sliding off and leaving the tiny skeleton looking surprised and awkward looking with only one glove. 

For some reason, you really felt as though you weren’t supposed to have taken his glove. Yet before you could come up with a proper excuse or some half-assed apology, the skeleton gripping your arm spoke up. 

“ThishasbeenfunOkbye!”

Your stomach dropped, the ground beneath your feet vanishing in an instant, the air leaving your lungs in a soundless wheeze as you tried to gain back your balance. 

As soon as the odd sensation began, it was over, and you found yourself toppling backward and into whoever had done whatever the heckio it was and kidnapped you.

You ripped yourself away from your kidnapie as soon as you were able, whipping around and swinging your hands up and in front of you in a defensive way, chest still heaving oddly at the sensation that you were not actually breathing. 

First Papyrus was there-the dude who kind of kidnapped you in the first place. He really needed to not make a habit out of that- and looked a lot like he really wished he was anywhere else. 

Your hands swung themselves in a somewhat pathetic mimic of a child pretending that they knew karate before freezing, the silent and awkward pause that stretched on doing nothing to comfort you. 

………..You shuffled backward slightly, stiffening up again when the skeleton lifted a hand as if to try and stop you, his jaw opening only to click uselessly closed. 

Acting mostly on instinct (and the mild panic rushing through you) you flung the glove in your hand at the tall skeletons face, whirling around before you could really think about the implications or consequences of what you had just done. 

The odd ‘Plap” sound of glove meeting bone and somewhat monotone ‘ah’ from behind you let you know that the mark had met its target. But you didn’t stick around to find out what was happening after. 

With your feet ripping up the street you slid around the corner of an alley, nearly stumbling in the effort to not once again smooch the sidewalk. 

And you kept running. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The drywall dust clung uncomfortably to your skin, trying to seep every last bit of water from your already dry skin, and was somehow managing to despite the sweat trickling down your back assuring you that you hadn’t dried entirely out, you hadn’t become a human raisin yet., but if you kept up the pace you were working at it was only a matter of time. 

With a tired sigh, you wiped the sweat off your brow, letting your tired limbs rest as you settled back into a comfortable sitting position. 

You lifted your face to let your weary eyes trail over the skeletal structure you were working on, the somewhat ominous shell of the building being overshadowed by the amount of noise spilling from every direction. 

A radio somewhere was belting out songs you somewhat knew, the chatter, bangs, and clangs of other workers in the impossibly large and uncompleted building almost now comforting in how familiar it all sounded. 

You let your head thump back against the drywall, now staring up at the blank ceiling and idly observing the place the lights were supposed to go. Tugging down your dust mask, you reached for your water bottle and sighed in contentment at the first few sips.

Oddly hollow thumps let you know someone was approaching the room you were in, and you mentally prepared to deal with the consequences of a bunch of idiots while taking a long, well deserved gulp from your water bottle. 

A head popped into the room, an awkward smile on the persons face as they informed you that the head of your team wanted to see you for some reason. 

With surprisingly minimal grumbling on your part, you made your way to the front of the building, hands in your pockets while you idly trudged on your way to see why you were in trouble.

There was usually only one reason you had to talk to the head anyways, and you were preparing your ears for a good cursing as you entered the room, only to stop short when your eyes caught the gigantic, horned monster chatting with your team leader. His enormous frame towering over the shorter man, though it did look like he was going through the effort to scrunch himself down. 

This was certainly odd. 

You shuffled closer, curiosity mostly driving you toward what was sure to be a major pain in the ass. 

As soon as you got close, Ted turned his attention to you, a big grin on his face that you immediately didn’t like.

“Ah! There they are!” His giant hand slapped your back, and you had to put actual effort into not getting flung onto the ground, the sting of your newly acquired bruise giving you the confidence to glare at you assaulter. 

Ted Bundy, second only to the big boss of the construction crew. A smart man who worked well and knew what he wanted and how to get it done. 

Of course ‘Ted Bundy’ wasn’t his real name.

But after a few centuries of him constantly taking on new names, you kind of forgot over time. 

You honestly couldn’t recall a time when you hadn’t known the hearty dwarf, his jolly smile and unusually thick beard reminding you of a somewhat skewed Santa Claus. 

He was easy to like, though he would constantly nag you and show up every few years out of nowhere to make sure you were still kicking in the horrible world. 

Giving a huff, you shrugged his hand off and shuffled out of swatting range, “yeah yeah, what do you want Ted?” You rubbed at the already fading bruise, the phantom pain being the only thing remaining as it sunk deep into your skin. 

The suspicious Cheshire grin didn’t leave his face,in fact it grew bigger and you narrowed your eyes at him. 

Before you could reconsider the life choices that had led you to this current moment and turn on your heel before something dumb happened, Ted gestured to the hulking goat monster “I’d like you to give this client a tour of the building! Let him see how its turning out and show him a few of the finished rooms, would ya?” 

Although that last part was worded as a question, you could read the gleam in the dwarfs eye and bit your tongue to keep from cursing at the stupid little man. 

You furrowed your brow, letting your eyes trace over the monster only to feel your insides shrivel up when you realized you recognized him. 

He stood taller than even you almost by a head or two, donned in golden armor and a royal violet cape that swept over his form in a fitting way that had you wondering why you didn’t wear capes. His white fur looked impossibly soft, and tuffs of it was colored blonde. A beard and what you supposed passed for his hair the striking blonde color. 

It was the king. 

“Oh- um, actually? Could I? Talk to you for a bit?” You didn’t wait for an answer, spinning on your heel and trudging a little bit aways, expecting Ted to follow after you as your nerves sparked and spun unlikely scenarios in your mind. 

You bit your thumb, tapping your foot as your thoughts started racing around. 

There was a reason you didn’t socialize with monsters. Not that you didn’t like them and that you weren’t happy for them, but if they found out that creatures from the ancient times still roamed the earth who knew how they would react?

And if they found out what you were, who knew what they would do to you?

Ted finally stepped beside you, the stormy look on his face only rising your defenses. 

“You can’t have me show them around, have someone else do it,” You whispered the demand, folding your arms across your chest and sending a quick glance to the king. 

“Well, I can’t do it either! Its more likely that they’ll figure out what I am than what you are! And th’ boss wanted someone with enough _experience_,” He rolled his eyes at the word and continued “to show em around,” 

His accent came out stronger than what you had heard in a long time, and you noticed the panic flickering in his eyes, a pleading look you weren’t used to on his face as he clasped his hands. 

“Please, just do it. As a favor. I’ll give ya something I’ve been stashin away for a while, yeah?” One of his hands settled on your shoulder and gave it an encouraging squeeze, and you felt the resolve drain from you. 

“Fine,” You finally relented, sounding far calmer than you actually were, and some small part of you applauded that fact. 

Straightening up, you whirled back to the king of monsters, a fake smile that looked like it belonged on a plastic doll stretching across your face.. 

“Hi! I’m Y/N! Its so nice to have the opportunity to show you all the work we have been doing here at the cite,” You swept an arm out, gesturing to the almost finished structure, a small part of you bewildered at your customer service voice “If you would just follow me, I can show you around the completed parts of the building and what we are currently working on,” 

You turned, not really expecting an answer, only to pause in surprise when the king spoke up “Ah yes, please give me one moment human” you half turned, ready to ask why, only to have your thought process derailed by what he said next. 

“Papyrus!” 

The name you somewhat recognized had your brain stall, trying to come up with a logical explanation because there was no POSSIBLE way it could be the-

Yeah scratch that.

The tall skeleton entering the room had you yank the dust mask dangling around your neck back over your mouth frantically as you turned away and hunched slightly in on yourself , your eyes darting around the room for a possible savior. 

Yet the cursed little creature that had left you to your demise was nowhere to be found. 

Spatula dude was here, and if the still excessive amounts of glitter in your hair didn’t clue him in to who you were, then you were sure that he would immediately recognize if not for your dust mask. 

Or you know, he would probably recognize you anyways and that would be the end of that. 

maybe . 

Who knew?

Definitely not you, and you and fate did not have a great relationship so you expected the worst.

Unconvinced that your “disguise” would work out well, you squared your shoulders and spun back around, clearing your throat slightly to politely interrupt the conversation the king and spatula dude were having. 

The room lapsed into silence, and you kept your eyes glued to the unfinished ground as you gestured to the door behind you “Shall we begin?” 

Eager nods had you spinning towards the door, “Great! Please come this way and I will gladly show you to the rooms we have finished,” 

You marched forward, waving and greeting the occasional person you passed on your way and shooing them away before they would accidentally reveal their slacking ways in front of the king.

“So, Y/N was it?” The voice of the kind carried almost hauntingly through the hall, bouncing off unfinished walls and summoning goosebumps onto your skin. You tried to cover up the tensing of your muscles. 

“Yep! And I just got to say, it is a real honor to meet you, your majesty,” Your voice was muffled slightly due to the mask, and you almost felt obligated to bow to the giant. But that would have been awkward seeing as you were leading the way. 

You settled for looking over your shoulder and giving him a respectful nod. 

An almost unbelievably kind smile settled onto his face and he let out a low rumble of a chuckle “You’re too kind. I was wondering…” And the questions started from there, the skeleton occasionally pitching in and asking his own questions. 

You could feel the sweat gathering on your palms, and casually clenched them behind your back as you carefully explained the rooms and how it would all progress from its current state into a finished masterpiece.

A small part of you was still panicking, but everything was slowly blurring together as if you were swimming through jelly while your body was occupied by someone who knew how to be entirely reasonable in the art of conversation. 

A spike of panic yanked you back into self consciousness when you caught spatula dude eyeing your hair, but you firmly ignored it, going on and on about how long you thought you had left on the building, how the elevators were being installed soon, how this and that and this while it all muddled together into something you didn’t really care about. 

You were explaining something quite boring when you turned to glance at the king of monsters and spatula dude, only to stumble over your words at the contemplative and awe struck look on both of their faces as you continued speaking. 

You let your eyes burn that image into your mind, the giant goat man and somewhat cute skeleton looking amazed by something you had done with your own two hands. And despite yourself, you felt pride swell in your chest, A grin slipping onto your face as you straightened and continued explaining. 

By the time you were leading them to where the elevators were being installed, you felt confident enough in your disguise. Though the somewhat awkward lull in conversation due to the end of the day approaching left the building feeling almost ominous. 

Or perhaps it was just the concentrated glare sticking to the back of your head that was making your nerves twitch in timid anticipation for the other shoe to drop. 

An hour, Maybe two passed in the same timid anticipation, and by the end of it you were waving goodbye to the two, feeling relieved in a way that you hadn’t in a long time. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was loud. 

Your nights usually were, though for some odd reason you were starting to feel irritated with the annoying buzz of people a lot earlier than you usually did. 

The night always burst with life if you knew where to look, and you were in one of the current places. 

A bar. 

A noisy bar. 

…...An annoyingly noisy bar. 

Huffing in irritation, you placed your drink back onto the bar. Though you wanted to slam it down to give the subtle hint that you were angry, you resisted the urge and instead waved the bartender down for another drink. 

You downed your drink almost as soon as it was poured, leaning your head into your hand as you let your eyes trail around the room lazily. 

Welp.

It had people. 

Lots of people.

….urgh. 

Heaving a sigh, you plopped cash down on the bar and shuffled through the crowds of people. Once you broke free of the building, you took a deep breath.

Ah yes, sweet sweet smog filled air. 

You released the air in your lungs, watching the curls of breath drift up and away from you in the biting cold. 

Not that you really felt the cold. The temperature didn’t really affect you and hadn’t in a long time. 

You genuinely couldn’t remember the last time the warmth of the sun had actually felt comforting, or the cold of snow prickling at your fingers and nose oddly refreshing. 

Not that it really mattered in the long run. 

With that gloomy thought, you stuffed your hands into your jackets pockets and started shuffling down the street, the want to find a quieter bar keeping you moving through the night and into territory you didn't recognize. 

Which was incredibly dumb considering the fact that that was one of the things that had caused you to have quite the distressing day a while ago. 

But you were nothing if not sort of dumb. So on you wandered! Idly searching for a place to drink your troubles away and not think. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Good news: You found a relatively quiet bar to not think at!

Slightly bad news: The bartender refused to serve you after a few dozen drinks. 

“C’mon mannnn,” You whined, sinking onto the bar and burying your hands into your hair as you pled. 

The fire elemental shook his head, continuing to polish a glass even though you were sure it was spotless and giving you a look you couldn’t entirely decipher at the moment. 

“You're drunk.” 

You were sure you would have appreciated the soft, crackly voice if you had been sober. But you weren’t, and you didn’t, and the idea of making the few dozen drinks you had taken to get to the point where you were only for them to have no effect just sounded like a waste of money. 

“I’m notttttttttt,” You dragged the denial out as you leaned back on your stool, eyes flickering around the cozy bar for nothing in particular. 

“Besides, its not like I’m driving or anything…” 

Someone was up on a small platform on one side of the room, replicating a small stage that fit in surprisingly well and made the entire place feel even more welcoming. Seems like they were telling the crowd the singer couldn’t make it. A pity. 

An idea struck. 

A very dumb idea that sober you just didn’t have the ability to properly appreciate. 

Alcohol always did encourage your brilliant plans. 

You slid off the stool, pointedly ignoring the sigh of relief coming from the bartender. He probably thought you were leaving, he really needed to not underestimate your dumbassery. 

You somehow made it to the edge of the small stage without tripping over your own feet, and drunken delight encouraged you to pat yourself on the back. The floor really didn’t deserve all those kisses after all the abuse it had given you. 

Uncaring of what consequences future you would face, you stumbled onto the stage, the brief, alarmed clamor of the crowd around the small stage only serving to inspire your inner idiot further.

By the time you had reached the propped up mic you had sobered yourself slightly, determined to prove you were entirely sober while carrying out a drunken plan. 

Smart. 

You gave a charming grin to the now understanding crowd, wiggling your fingers at the slightly annoyed and baffled looking fire elemental. 

“Hello! I hereby dedicate this to my good friend, Sifu Hotman!” you tossed your arms out, practically oozing confidence and charismatic charm sober you didn't really possess. 

  
  


A small part of you worried that the nickname might be seen as inconsiderate, but you were moving on before you could dwell on it, making your priority clearer in your muddled up brain. 

Sing. 

You were going to sing. 

Right. 

What were you going to sing again?

You muttered under your breath, eyes darting back and forth as you racked your brain for a song, any song would do really, you just needed to remember all the words. 

The uncaring crowd had already gone back to their drinking or discuissing or whatever it had been that they were doing before, the only remaining eyes stuck on you being the slightly concerned ones of the bartender. Like he was afraid you were going to start a riot or something of the sort. 

A song came to mind, and you shot the fire elemental another charming grin paired with a wink before clearing your throat and straightening up. 

An alarm bell went off in your head, but you very cleverly ignored it and were gearing up to lose what little dignity you had left as you cleared your throat and started singing. 

“Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch,” 

You spun around, the murmur of the crowd cheering for the old song giving you the confidence to wiggle along to the song now thrumming from the speakers behind you. 

“You know that I love you!” 

You danced on the stage, sweeping from one side to the other, pulling the mic off the stand to do so and resisting the urge to laugh into it when people started tugging each other onto the dancefloor. 

The euphorbia of watching the light bounce off the rainbow of colors filling the dance floor pushed you to bounce off the stage and join them, all the while gripping the mic like a lifeline and continuing to sing like your life depended on it. 

For some reason you felt like it was an important moment. 

That simple, joy filled moment while you were belting out old song lyrics while shimming along with others who were grinning and stumbling along the lyrics with you. 

“You know that I'm waiting for you!

I can't help myself

I love you and nobody else!”

Tears gathered in the corners of your eyes, and you brushed them away with a quiet laugh, leaning your head back for mostly dramatic effect as the tune spilled from your lips. 

“No, I can’t help myself! I love you and nobody else! Oh Nobody else~!” 

The silence lasted for a beat, a beat that stretched so far into what felt like eternity that you felt it stick into your mind and fill you up with something that stung your chest and had your throat closing up. 

Then it was over before you could properly process it, clapping and hoots were ringing from around you, drowning the odd silence away. 

With a grin that stretched wide, you brushed off the weird feeling, bowing dramatically low and thanking the crowd. 

You rounded back onto the stage, sticking the mic back on its stand before santuring back over to the fire elemental who was slowly polishing a glass and looking past you even when you plopped into the stool in front of him and leaned forward with a cheeky grin on your face. 

You felt the smile crumple off your face at the large sigh the bartender let out, shaking his head slightly as he clicked a glass full of water in front of you “_ Definitely _ drunk,” was all he said, before turning his back on you and going to serve someone else. 

Grumbling, you sipped at the water, the genius of your not so thought out plan going depressingly to waste. 

A pity. 

It had been such a good plan too. 

You tilted your glass from side to side, eyes glued to the water sloshing inside as though it would reveal the answer to your failure. 

It wasn’t a bad plan, maybe just…..poorly executed

Encouraging yourself with that thought you took another, longer sip of your drink. Feeling the anxious nerves you didn’t even know were sparking die slowly away. 

Only to glance to the side and freeze. 

Savior who might have not been your savior was sitting on the seat next to you, his skull resting in his hand (or whatever it was that he had that passed as a hand) and giving you a sleepy grin. 

You couldn’t help but think about how the lights in his eye sockets looked like tiny stars. 

“nice song, kiddo,”

You choked.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ;w; i hope you enjoyed 
> 
> I am positive I have made a few errors so if you notice some plz let me know! Any and all feedback is welcome (as always) and I really hope to update a lot sooner next time!
> 
> (Song is [I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3bksUSPB4c)

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think! Feedback is always appreciated. 
> 
> Hoped you enjoyed and continue to enjoy.


End file.
